Giro shorts: Stage 1 review

Stage profile: An 8.7km individual time trial around the streets of Herning, the home-town of Saxo Bank team owner Bjarne Riis. The first part of the course is twisty and technical, while the second half is more flowing and favours more traditional powerful time trial specialists.

How the stage was won: The stage was always tipped to be a battle between Geraint Thomas and Taylor Phinney in this opening ITT and they did not disappoint. Phinney smashed Thomas’s time by nine seconds and Alex Rasmussen came in just four seconds off Thomas’ time.

Most touching occurrence: The crowd gave some of their biggest cheers to Tyler Farrar, knowing that riding the Giro is particularly poignant for the Garmin rider as his best friend, Wouter Weylandt, died on stage three of last year’s race.

VeloVoices rider of the stage: It would have to be Taylor Phinney with a mega-ride that gave BMC its first big win of the season. He starts stage two in the maglia rosa.

General classification:

1. Taylor Phinney (BMC) 0:10:26

2. Geraint Thomas (Sky) +0:09

3. Alex Rasmussen (Garmin-Barracuda) +0:13

4. Manuele Boaro (Saxo Bank) +0:15

5. Gustav Larsson (Vacansoleil-DCM) +0:22

Points leader: Taylor Phinney (BMC).

Team classification: Garmin-Barracuda.

Tomorrow: Stage 2 – Herning to Herning, 206km. Flat – a sprinter’s finish. Tailor-made for the likes of Mark Cavendish and Matt Goss, with the GC contenders enjoying a gentle opportunity to stretch their legs in the anonymity of the peloton.

Live action and highlights will be shown daily on Eurosport. For other channels check cyclingfans.com. VeloVoices is covering the Giro with daily recaps on the blog, on our Facebook page, and we will also be on Twitter throughout the race, where we will be live-tweeting updates from as many of the stages as we can.